Rising Legend:Kanto
by spiritgirl16
Summary: At the end of the day she was her father's daughter. That had to count for something in terms of talent right? Then again, she could just be unlucky. OFC.


_Disclaimer:I do not own Pokemon._

 **Enjoy.**

The Beginning

* * *

 _How did it come to this?_

Small beady black eyes were staring back at her, filled to the brim with a fresh mix of curiosity and-well, if that creepy little smile of its was anything to go by, she'd guess it was joy. Its little yellow-colored 'noodle' body didn't even seem like it could survive a battle, let alone walking! The red shell that covered its middle section looking about as reliable as if he were wearing some kind of fashionable donut.

"…Is this really all you have left?"came her sour response. No ' _thank you'_ , or _'Wow, he's great!'_ She made no attempt to hide her blatant disgust for this small little creature; seriously, who in their right mind would want a _Shuckle_?

Shuckles started to cry.

 _'Well now, that's just perfect...'_

Sighing, she could only watch, expression still unusually sour, while the gray-haired professor kind enough to entrust the pokemon to her came forward, picking it up with gentle fingers and rocking it. Her frown deepened when it stopped crying, cuddling up to him affectionately. Looking at the small like Bug/Rock type she thought back to just how she ended up in this situation to begin with.

 _xXx_

It was a cold day when she first stepped foot off the moving truck. Her father decided it would be a good idea to relocate to the region known as Kanto. " _Closer to work,"_ he had said and left it at that, probably because he knew he wouldn't get much of a response from her anyway. And now, staring up at the summit of what she would later find out was the Indigo Plateau, she felt more annoyance than anything else.

To have been uprooted and moved so suddenly-" _I'm turning fourteen in a week,"_ she had responded to him with, looking bored with the conversation before it had begun, bored and just plain angry. She knew it was pointless to care.

Her father-the great _Champion_ of Kanto _and_ Johto, Dragon Tamer, natural born prodigy with pokemon-he was everything she wasn't. He was the bane of her existence in a way neither of them could ever fully comprehend, and it pained her to think of the disappointed glances he would give to her. How often his smoldering eyes settled on her, as though seeing her for all she was worth; which to her must not have been much.

" _You're the daughter of a Dragon Tamer? Yeah right!"_

She remembered the cruel words of the kids whenever they would pass her in the hallway or see her in class even. More specifically, Gary Oak's, him being the cruelest of all.

" _Everyone knows Lance doesn't have a daughter!_ "

But he did. Like it or not, it was her.

" _You couldn't even raise the weakest of the weak pokemon, and YOU'RE gonna be a pokemon master!? Get your head out of the clouds!"_

She came home with bruises that day. Insisting they were from her tumble down a few flight of stairs when she tried outrunning a few bullies. Not that it really mattered. In the end Samuel Oak dismissed it saying as long as no one was too badly hurt. Her father, however, still scolded her for losing her cool. Said that even though things have been hard she had to be willing to work with him.

That was a week ago. Now she was stuck in Kanto for good.

Stuck in the region said to be the strongest. The region where her father was the pinnacle of strength, and everyone else reveled in it. She didn't let on how much she hated the fact he seemed just so good at everything.

' _I get my pokemon today. That's all that matters._ ' She thought, slowly stirring her cereal. The TV was on in the lounge area where she was eating, covering yet another one of the great Kanto-Johto league champions _flawless_ victories. She was seething.

 _"Dragonair was moving beautifully today! And now let's see if we can get an interview with the champion himself-_

She clicked off the television, staring at the blank screen for a moment or two. Finally she sighed, hanging her head further down tossing the remote onto the couch. Her father had not come home last night, again. None of the other Elite Four were around either, not that she could blame them.

"Who'd want to be cooped up in a place like this the whole day...?"She muttered just as the door opened and a familiar face came sauntering in; clad in her usual yellow heels and matching colored crop top that rode just a little too high for modesty sake, elegant waves of silvery-blue tresses tumbled freely down her backside just brushing where her hips and gold-studded belt were. The combination of yellow and white had always seemed so odd to her, for someone who specializes in the dark-type.

' _Karen._ '

The only member of the league who was somewhat around her age bracket. Plus the fact that she was a girl, one of the three whole reasons her father allowed them to interact even if he and Agatha didn't always think Karen to be the best influence. She was, after all, Agatha's granddaughter which meant she shared in the elder womans sometimes hostile disposition towards others who don't measure up.

xXx

"Phew, what a night~!"Karen exclaimed throwing her head back, letting out a groan. She stopped coming up short of the beginnings of another tirade when she spotted the meek little girl that was Lance's own daughter standing in the room with her. Forest green met pale blue eyes.

"Oh hey Em." She straightened, already in the middle of pouring herself a glass of milk. "Didn't know you were here. Hey, wait isn't today-"

"How was it?"The shorter girl interrupted shyly just as Karen was about to ask the question she'd been dreading.

"The match I mean..."

Karen only laughed taking a sip of her milk, rolling her eyes. "He was good, I'll give him that but he was far too arrogant for his own good. She grimaced into the cup for a moment, then proceeded to dump it down the kitchen sink and head over to make some coffee instead.

There was silence. Then came the sound of something rustling, with Karen peering over her shoulder to see the other girl settling a backpack onto her shoulders. Furrowing her brow, she finally asked,"Where are you going Emily?"

"To Professor Oak's."She said, the small little fidget she gave told Karen more than the girls face sure did.

"Why?"

The small little budding of hope Emily had felt when she woke up came surging back to her; she had her snacks, her journal, extra sets of clothes, everything she would need.

"I want...to go get my pokemon. I want to go on a journey."

Karen stared at her; the meek little girl didn't make eye contact at all. Strands of choppy auburn hair poking out from beneath the official league ball cap showing she hadn't brushed this morning, and then there was the issue of her clothes. Karen inwardly frowned in disapproval eying the tattered gray faded jeans and black T underneath a red jumper. The girl looked atrocious, definitely like she had just rolled out of bed.

"You're going looking like _that_?" Karen asked, disbelief dripping in her voice.

Emily blinked. "It's the wilderness...this is fine."She mumbled, wordlessly ducking her head even further down and heading for the door. Karen watched her through half-lidded eyes at first.

"Didn't Lance-Didn't your _dad_ say no?"

Emily's hand stilled on the door.

"Back when you were ten or something?" Karen finished after taking a sip of her freshly brewed coffee, stirring it experimentally, looking with disinterest. "He said it was too dangerous."

"Well _he's_ not here right now, is he?"

The words were spoken with such venom Karen couldn't help but arch a brow in slight shock. She certainly never recalled hearing the girl use such a tone, seconds before the door was opened and slammed shut soon after.

Karen was left alone, casually sipping on her coffee. She knew she would get an earful from a certain someone for not giving chase when she should've, but well...why clean up another's dirty mess?

Worse case scenario she would just walk back in with a Charmander or a Squirtle or something, and then the damage would be done.

xXx

When she first arrived, there was a huge crowd waiting.

' _Great. Reporters..._ '

Only they weren't. Some of them were cheerleaders though, much to her sizzling irritation.

"Thank you one, and thank you all!"A familiar voice called out-not to mention _obnoxious_ -waving at the assortment of townsfolk, cheerleaders and, uh...other people. _'Just who are all these people anyway?'_ Emily thought opting to stay back and hidden for as long as possible.

Keeping her eyes forward she eventually caught sight of a familiar head of brown hair, wearing his usual attire and waving some small round object in the air proudly. Emily recognized it as Gary Oak causing her frown to grow. Her hands unknowingly tightening on the straps of her backpack in frustration.

' _Of course_ _ **he's**_ _here too. Professor Oak's his grandfather, I'll bet he got one of the best pokemon of all.'_

Inwardly heaving out a sigh, she despaired a little at this though before shaking her head just Gary got into the back seat of some car, preparing to ride off to who knows where. Professor Oak wasn't one to play favorites, she knew this but couldn't help but worry...what kind of pokemon would she be left with?

' _As long as it's a good one I don't care.'_

And with that she stepped out of the tree's shadow, it's low branches keeping her shielded still from the now dispersing mass of strangers.

"Oh Emily there you are!"Oak greeted jovially, finally turning from where he'd been standing, waving away at his grandson and wishing him luck. His aged face broke out into a smile, genuinely happy to see her it seemed. "I was beginning to worry you wouldn't show up, so then your dad finally came around, did he? I knew he would!"

Something inside of Emily withered a bit at the mention of her father before she pushed it aside, schooling her features in a convincing enough grin and a half-decent attempt at actually looking glad. "Yep. Totally!Um, hey professor?"She said keeping her tone light to avoid suspicion.

"Hm?"

"I-I was just wondering...for my trainer's license-"

"Ah, you mean the Pokedex. Yes, what of it?"

"Is there any way you can have it so-so that it's under my mother's maiden name instead?"

At this Oak arched a brow, curious and a tad confused. "I suppose so, but...wouldn't you and your father rather you use his last name instead?"

' _And get swarmed by reporters every step of the way? Yeah right.'_

 _"_ Oh well, w-we just think, you know, it'd be safer if I went with mom's name. You can do it, can't you?"

"Yes I suppose I can see his point of view then. Very well, let's go inside and get you all set up now, shall we?"

She nodded feeling a weight lift off her chest, her heart fluttering a bit.

And thus, her current predicament...

Just for the heck of it, she flipped open her brand new pokedex:

" _Shuckle. The Mold pokemon. Shuckle quietly hides itself under rocks, keeping its body concealed inside its hard shell while eating berries it has stored away. The berries mix with its body fluids to become a juice."_ The robotic voice identified by Oak as Dexter supplied.

"That sounds disgusting."Emily said with next to hesitation.

She snapped it shut just as Shuckles eyes began to water again. It wailed continuously in Oak's grasp and in all honesty, there was a small part of Emily content to let it. She did not want a Shuckle. And if his cries were anything to go by...then Shuckle did not want her for a trainer.

Shuckle may not be the weakest pokemon out there, but she knew enough to know it certainly was far enough down there. She wanted-no, she _needed_ something stronger.

"As you can see it is rather sensitive, so it may take a while longer to get warmed up to you."Oak supplied closing the distance, oblivious to Emily's look of slight disdain while he deposited the still sniffling Shuckle into her arms.

"Poor thing. It was abandoned by it's previous trainer you see, it's taken months to get it trusting people at all again."Oak added, lightly petting the yellow noodle-like appendage that was Shuckles own head. "Now then I'm sure given the proper care and attention you and Shuckle will become closer than...er...well, oh drat...what was that saying again?" Oak began to mutter under his breath.

Meanwhile Shuckle and Emily were left to stare at one another, with Emily being the one to break the small bout of silence. "I can't believe someone owned you."

Shuckle seemed saddened by this, or maybe it was the reminder of his old trainer that sparked the fresh swell of tears in those beady black eyes. And maybe...just maybe, for a moment Emily saw herself years ago holding onto nothing but a small Teddiursa doll for comfort-later down the line she would lie and say it was because she was tired of it's constant crying-gently placing a tender palm on the yellow flesh of it's head noting how _squishy_ it felt.

It didn't necessarily coo at her out of affection like it did with the Professor, but rather wiggled its little yellow arms and legs restlessly. It wasn't much, but it was a start.

The start of Emily and Shuckle.

* * *

 **Review.**


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